Same Old Story, Different Tour
There is something almost poetic about England men's cricket returning, yet again, to the question of what time grown adults should be tucked up in bed. Joe Root said back in 2017, on the eve of an Ashes tour, that international cricketers are adults who should be treated accordingly. Nearly a decade on, the England dressing room is still having the same conversation — and it's becoming embarrassing.
That 2017-18 Ashes trip was a catalogue of off-field disasters: the infamous incident involving Ben Stokes outside a Bristol nightclub before the tour even began, Jonny Bairstow's peculiar run-in with Cameron Bancroft, Ben Duckett pouring a drink over James Anderson, and the nadir of Moeen Ali being asked by an Australian journalist whether the squad could manage to stay out of the pub. The curfew that followed lasted over four years, finally lifted in 2022. It took barely another Ashes series for the circus to roll back into town.
A Timeline That's Hard to Follow
Even for those paying close attention, England's policy U-turns over the past seven months have been dizzying. Curfew rules introduced to the white-ball setup in January were carried over into the Test team at the start of the home summer. Then, after the very first Test, captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson broke curfew — with Atkinson reportedly unaware the rule even existed. That detail alone tells you everything about the communication standards inside the camp.
Director of cricket Rob Key, clearly at the end of his tether after a difficult winter, floated the idea of banning alcohol entirely, while head coach Brendon McCullum acknowledged there was genuine ambiguity around the regulations. Stokes and Atkinson were ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing. Then Stokes returned to the captaincy after Root took over briefly, and now — with Root back in charge — the curfew has quietly been shelved. Again.
Rules Are a Sticking Plaster, Not a Cure
As a former coach, I can tell you that imposing curfews is rarely the answer. When a team's culture is healthy and the results are flowing, you don't need a rulebook to tell players how to behave. The fact that England keep reaching for the curfew lever suggests something deeper is wrong — a disconnect between expectation and accountability that no midnight deadline can fix.
What's particularly damaging is the reputational cost. England's Bazball era generated enormous goodwill, and rightly so. That goodwill is being steadily eroded not by poor cricket alone, but by a persistent soap opera around player conduct that makes the team look ungovernable. For those tracking England's Test outright odds going into the rest of the home summer, it's worth noting that off-field instability of this kind has historically correlated with inconsistent performances — and the markets will reflect that uncertainty.
Only the Scoreboard Offers Redemption
Root's assertion in 2017 that players should be treated like adults was entirely reasonable then, and it remains so now. But with that freedom comes responsibility — and England have repeatedly failed to honour that bargain. The curfew has been in and out so many times it's become a symbol of muddled leadership rather than a genuine disciplinary framework.
The only thing that will genuinely repair England's image is a sustained run of wins, delivered with professionalism on and off the pitch. Scrapping the curfew might be the right call, but it will only look wise in hindsight if the results back it up. Until then, this feels less like a bold decision and more like another verse in a song that really should have ended years ago.
